2013 United States Grand Prix

[Richard]

Lets not get too caught up in idolising drivers and teams.

Perhaps the McLaren was an absolute dog and Hamilton's heroic powers made the difference. Perhaps the McLaren was a rocket ship and Hamilton was stupid in qualifying but he was able to cruise to the front thanks to the superior front end. Reality is likely to lie somewhere between the two. It was a fast car (both drivers posted good times over the weekend) with a talented driver (he beat his team-mate).

It's near impossible to separate driver and car when assessing performance. What counts are the points on the board at the end of the race. If we stray too far beyond that we usually end up heading to the other thread http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... ead#unread


Edit - Driver yin yang posts have been deleted.

[f1316]

No Kimi here or in Brazil then. I hope that means valsecchi gets a go - don't like the idea of gp2 champs not getting the chance to race in f1.

[Joie de vivre]

due to surgery of his back

[Jonnycraig]

Kvyat will drive FP1.

[Kiril Varbanov]

Davide V. is still not 100% sure. Some suggest that Nico H. might get the seat for the last two races ...

[gt6racer]

due to surgery of his back

Or just carrying out his threat based upon wages ??
Of course it's not good that he doesn't get paid - but there are fans coming from all over to Ausin to see him race. What about them ? I guess it won't matter as after this stunt they won't be fans anyway....

[Richard]

The occasional off topic posts are OK, but the Raikkonen debate is gathering a life of its own.

Lets talk about Lotus team in the Lotus thread http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... ead#unread

[AnthonyG]

I'm hoping for another D'Ambrosio chance, but I fear that might be totaly out of question.

[oT v1]

Dont suppose there'll be any rain for the weekend in Austin? how are the conditions looking

[slimfitcasual]

Looking like a 30-40% chance of of thunderstorms... Being Texas, this can change in an instant.

[mikeerfol]

F1.com says rain for Saturday.

[theformula]

In regards to Lewis keeping a tight line in turn 6 as mentioned in my post before, he has published his take on the Circuit of the Americas here: http://www.lewishamilton.com/post/5c921 ... c4c1f034c/
He made the comment "It's important to get as far back to the righthand side for turn 6 so you can carry a lot of speed through there."
This probably explains why he keeps further to the right than anyone else - the fact that you can carry more speed through there as opposed to when you drift out slightly. Since the entry to the next corner doesn't matter much, carrying more speed through turn 6 will lower overall laptime.

[godlameroso]

The medium tire will be the race tire to use this weekend, the hard will be about .3-.4 tenths slower, and the durability vs the medium compound will not be much greater, probably four laps more. A good strategy might be to start on the medium, switch to the hard for the second stint and then back to the medium for the last stint. I imagine the option is good for around 17 laps and the hard for 21-22 tops. The only advantage is the hard is probably better suited to overtaking cars than the soft will be. The fight for best of the rest will be very entertaining, I imagine Vettel will run away with his, one and a half second per lap advantage.

[Shrieker]

Davide V. is still not 100% sure. Some suggest that Nico H. might get the seat for the last two races ...

I'd love to see that...

[Hail22]

Pirelli track walkthrough:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA1UwNrKtF0[/youtube]